Wearable airbag for powered two-wheelers: what is the profile of users involved in road traffic crashes and how does it affect their fatality risk?

BACKGROUND

Traffic fatalities within Powered Two-Wheelers (PTW) users are mostly due to head and thoracic injuries. This study assesses airbag use prevalence among PTW users involved in Road Traffic Crashes (RTCs) in France and aims to estimate airbag effectiveness in protecting against fatality risk.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted using French national police crash data from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2022, including a total of 69,350 PTW users. Pearson Chi-squared and Mann-Whitney tests were used to compare airbag users and non-users. Multiple logistic regression models were fitted to estimate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) assessing the relationship between airbag use, adjustment factors, and crash-related fatality.

RESULTS

Airbag use in our population was 0.83%, with an increasing rate over the study period. Airbag users were older than non-users, used higher engine displacement PTWs, and crashed more often in rural settings and on roads with higher speed limits. The proportion of fatalities was higher among airbag users (4.7%) than among non-users (3.8%). After adjustment, the fatality risk was not statistically different between airbag users and non-users, although a 20 % lower risk was observed for airbag users (OR[95%CI]) = 0.80[0.53-1.21]).

CONCLUSION

Wearable airbag use was low, though equipped motorcyclists increased over the study period. Airbag users involved in RTCs had different profiles from non-users, which may partly explain their higher fatality rate. While we did not show a significant protective effect of airbag on fatality risk, the limited number of airbag users in our population is an important limitation to consider in the detection of the airbag effect.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

Our findings underscore the need for future evaluations to better estimate airbag effectiveness by focusing on torso injury risk and the related fatality risk in larger populations with precise data on injuries, crash circumstances and demographic characteristics.